St. Paul Man Arrested, Charged In Large Marijuana Bust

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 38-year-old St. Paul man is accused of possessing and selling at least 56 pounds of marijuana in connection with a drug bust in Inver Grove Heights last month, according to charges filed by the Dakota County Attorney’s Office.

Cher Yang has been charged with felony counts of third-degree controlled substance, sale and possession of marijuana, in connection with the case.

According to the charges, the Drug Enforcement Administration out of Chicago, Ill., was called to a shipping facility in Eagan on April 10 after a box containing marijuana had been discovered among 25 boxes. DEA officers searched every box and found that at least four others contained marijuana.

The complaint states on April 15, Yang drove in a pick-up truck to the Eagan shipping company to pick up the boxes. He also had the help of two other people in a different vehicle, and he signed paperwork and was shown where the boxes were.

The 25 boxes were put in the two vehicle, with the five containing marijuana being put in the pick-up truck. Authorities stopped both vehicles at about 3:35 p.m. that day on Interstate 494 just west of Robert Street.

Yang told officers he had communicated with another individual to have store supplies shipped from California to Minnesota. Yang also told police the two of them had place marijuana in some of the boxes that were shipped, the complaint states. He was meeting the individual off Highway 61 near Hastings to deliver the marijuana for $10,000.

A test showed that the boxes contained more than 56 pounds of marijuana with a street value of between $171,000 and $342,000, according to Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom.

Yang was arrested and made his first appearance in Dakota County Court on Friday. He’s in jail on a $75,000 bond.